There has to be some hypno shit in games. I always wondered why my mom didn't let me play as much as I wanted to, and still dodged that pothole only by an inch.

I think there's some pretty weird socialisation in online multiplayer games* specifically which contributed to this. I know I played a lot, but generally single player stuff, which has a different dynamic.

*And Japanese games, because as we know, the alt-right are basically a bunch of weaboos.

There has to be some hypno shit in games. I always wondered why my mom didn't let me play as much as I wanted to, and still dodged that pothole only by an inch.

I think there's some pretty weird socialisation in online multiplayer games* specifically which contributed to this. I know I played a lot, but generally single player stuff, which has a different dynamic.

*And Japanese games, because as we know, the alt-right are basically a bunch of weaboos.

So I actually researched and studied this, because I’ve been eyeball deep in “gamer culture” since 2001, barely dodged the GamerGate bullet, and watched people I grew up with fall headlong into groups that despise them (e.g. a black man going full “ethnostates!” And not understanding he’ll be one of those on the chopping block if his friends have their way.)

Relatedly (really!) I was a part of the extreme metal and experimental electronic music/noise music communities, which has a concerning amount of overlap with “hardcore gamers”: most hardcore gamers you will meet listen to extreme metal. Go on, ask them some time. Lots of extreme folk metal and modern deathcore, of course, but a frankly alarming amount of black metal too, and they all know Burzum (better known as Varg Vikernes, the church burning neo-Nazi who killed his band mate because of a belief he was gay).

There’s an obvious tack to take here, but it’s wrong. Until around 05 actual nazis in most of the extreme metal community kept their mouths shut, because they announced who they were and their sales and listeners plummeted, their labels would cut them loose, no one wanted any of this. Even after they started getting outspoken, they ended up mostly being ostracized still.

No, the role that extreme metal played was “nazis are ok as long as they are harmless whack jobs.” Since they had no chance to be anything else, well...

Then there are two other things. The rise of militant atheism as in Dawkins and Hitchens, which encouraged a belief that emotions being involved in an argument makes it wrong. And *chan culture, where shocking and offensive behavior was the default.

Almost every hardcore gamer around the time of GamerGate was exposed to some mixture of these three things. Moreover, due to a misogynistic streak I’ve still never been able to figure out the exact source of, there was a serious dearth of outspoken female hardcore gamers up until a couple years before this, so you have mostly young angsty men who think masculinity is shown by the virtual gore on their computer monitors.

Then the inciting factor: game journalism sites are saying “hey gamers! You’re assholes and should stop it!” But they see that and think that it is wrong, because it’s “normal” to be a disgusting asshole, and the argument is based on “it hurts peoples feelings”. And then the whole bullshit with Zoe Quinn happened, giving these angsty young men a target for their frustrations in this area.

All it really took from there was anyone with a decent knowledge of how to play a mob speaking to their sympathies. They were angry and outraged that anyone would dare call them bad people, anyone who was going to ally with them was going to be followed. After that, sunk cost fallacy dominates, and boom: a bunch of newly minted fascists.

There’s more priming for fascist sympathies that had been unintentionally going on for years mind you, but I have the flu and don’t feel like doing the whole thing right now. Remind me later.

Extreme music is extreme for a reason. I have friends who base their choice between far-left/right depending on which they see as the most effective way to kill everyone.

That sort of crap in general I have no patience for these days. I prefer extreme music with motivation of the “punk” style now: “I’m goddamn angry that I’m constantly dodging my demise by inches and I’m gonna make your fucking ears ring about it”

There has to be some hypno shit in games. I always wondered why my mom didn't let me play as much as I wanted to, and still dodged that pothole only by an inch.

In order to be fun, games need to have an element of positive reinforcement, and wherever there is positive reinforcement and repetition, there is the possibility of addiction.

MMOs are specifically tuned to be addictive; it's in the developer's financial interest to do whatever is necessary to keep people paying their subscription fee month after month. Mobile games also try to induce addiction, although with a different monetization model (gacha games are particularly horrible; they're essentially gambling, and randomly delivered positive reinforcement is very effective at forming addiction).

I was badly addicted to an MMO myself, for a while, but was saved by my hatred of humanity in general. I'm not going there again.

I still do game more than I should, but I stick to games that are primarily offline, and finite in length. Even if I get addicted, the addiction will end with the end credits. Also, single-player games don't have as strong an incentive to make their players addicts (a little addiction is fun, but if your audience gets too addicted, they won't be around to buy your next game).

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You will cooperate with the state, for the good of the state and your own survival. You will confess to the crimes of which you have been accused. You will be released and returned to society a productive citizen if you cooperate. Resistance will be punished. Cooperation will be rewarded. --"Intersections in Real Time"

There has to be some hypno shit in games. I always wondered why my mom didn't let me play as much as I wanted to, and still dodged that pothole only by an inch.

I think there's some pretty weird socialisation in online multiplayer games* specifically which contributed to this. I know I played a lot, but generally single player stuff, which has a different dynamic.

*And Japanese games, because as we know, the alt-right are basically a bunch of weaboos.

Perhaps the alt-right are mostly weeaboos (I hadn't really noticed), but not all weebs are alt-right, nor do I really see anything in the Japanese games I play that I think would induce that sort of view.

The JRPG community I hang out with mostly leans left. We do have a token right-wing hypercapitalist Texan, but he's well-spoken, and hates Trump, so things stay pretty civil.

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You will cooperate with the state, for the good of the state and your own survival. You will confess to the crimes of which you have been accused. You will be released and returned to society a productive citizen if you cooperate. Resistance will be punished. Cooperation will be rewarded. --"Intersections in Real Time"

My understanding of libertarianism is entirely based on a half-remembered readthrough of Atlas Shrugged.

It was a sort of straw-army argument that the only defense against an absurd and obviously fictional caricature of socialism is unfettered capitalism, and that we should trust these capitalists to do what is best.

Also, Rand had some pretty silly notions about how technology is developed, and about what a self-made man could actually accomplish. And her writing was garbage.

It's bizarre that this book could influence anyone as anything more than a cautionary example of bad writing, but I suppose the message, "You're special and important and you don't need anyone else so you should be allowed to do whatever you want" has an appeal for some.

But, I read it many years ago, so some of the details may have gotten distorted.

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You will cooperate with the state, for the good of the state and your own survival. You will confess to the crimes of which you have been accused. You will be released and returned to society a productive citizen if you cooperate. Resistance will be punished. Cooperation will be rewarded. --"Intersections in Real Time"

There has to be some hypno shit in games. I always wondered why my mom didn't let me play as much as I wanted to, and still dodged that pothole only by an inch.

I think there's some pretty weird socialisation in online multiplayer games* specifically which contributed to this. I know I played a lot, but generally single player stuff, which has a different dynamic.

*And Japanese games, because as we know, the alt-right are basically a bunch of weaboos.

My understanding of libertarianism is entirely based on a half-remembered readthrough of Atlas Shrugged.

It was a sort of straw-army argument that the only defense against an absurd and obviously fictional caricature of socialism is unfettered capitalism, and that we should trust these capitalists to do what is best.

Also, Rand had some pretty silly notions about how technology is developed, and about what a self-made man could actually accomplish. And her writing was garbage.

It's bizarre that this book could influence anyone as anything more than a cautionary example of bad writing, but I suppose the message, "You're special and important and you don't need anyone else so you should be allowed to do whatever you want" has an appeal for some.

But, I read it many years ago, so some of the details may have gotten distorted.

I more or less enjoyed the Fountainhead, though there is a lot to laugh at in that book. On the other hand, I only ever made it a little leas than halfway through, despite 2 attempts. It was just boring. And stupid. But mostly boring.

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“Soon all of us will have special names” — Professor Brian O’Blivion

"Now's not the time to get silly, so wear your big boots and jump on the garbage clowns." — Bob Dylan?

"Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes" — Walt Whitman

There has to be some hypno shit in games. I always wondered why my mom didn't let me play as much as I wanted to, and still dodged that pothole only by an inch.

I think there's some pretty weird socialisation in online multiplayer games* specifically which contributed to this. I know I played a lot, but generally single player stuff, which has a different dynamic.

*And Japanese games, because as we know, the alt-right are basically a bunch of weaboos.

Perhaps the alt-right are mostly weeaboos (I hadn't really noticed), but not all weebs are alt-right, nor do I really see anything in the Japanese games I play that I think would induce that sort of view.

The JRPG community I hang out with mostly leans left. We do have a token right-wing hypercapitalist Texan, but he's well-spoken, and hates Trump, so things stay pretty civil.